120km south of chengdu lies the city of leshan. part of the mount emei scenic spot is the giant buddha site. and here it is. 71 meters in height and its feet big enough to host a family for picknick. the buddha has a wonderful background story. it was built to ease the rivers for safe passage… Continue reading big buddha
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cyclemasala back home
after more than half a year on the road, morgan and battista found their way back to switzerland. here are two posts where at the very end you can see our reunion in kathmandu as i was just arriving from pokhara and they were coming back from a month of trekking: http://cyclemasala.ch/fr/post445.html and at dinner,… Continue reading cyclemasala back home
things i lost in the roadside ditch
i had this post coming for some time but never got around to finish it. today it was brought back to my attention as i left kunming without my music player. after a long days ride i was sitting in a restaurant considering the option to go back by bus, which would have been a 5 hour… Continue reading things i lost in the roadside ditch
couchsurfing chengdu
when i arrived in chengdu i realized how difficult it would be here concerning the language barrier. as some widely used words like “railway station”, “water” or “left” and “right” were understood in most countries so far, it was different once i walked out of the railway station and faced a city of 12 million with only… Continue reading couchsurfing chengdu
train out of tibet
the highest railway on this planet. a 50 hour ride through wonderful scenery. and i have to repeat myself, i like trains. the only major drawback was the budget option “hard seat”. the need to lay down was growing during the night and finally i pulled out my camping gear and found a space between the water… Continue reading train out of tibet
johkang temple
one of the most sacred and important temples in tibet, the johkang temple is situated in central lhasa. many pilgrims do prostations in front of the temple. some circuit the jokhang that way and few of them even made their way to lhasa in that fashion over 100 or 100o’s of miles. let us talk… Continue reading johkang temple
potala palace
the first morning in lhasa we took the bus to the potala palace, once the residence of the dalai lama. the palace is divided into the red and the white part. the original red part was built in the 7th century and was later extended by the fifth dalai lama and since then also used… Continue reading potala palace
hotel live
we stayed at a wonderful hotel, an old restored mansion. with a good restaurant and wonderful people to share the food with. lucia trying to lend raphael some of her hair. …and a roof terrace to read a book or to simply spend some time away from the group… because there were some troubles involved in… Continue reading hotel live
group activities
on our way back from the monastery we witnessed the rehearsal of a whole school for a coming festival. dancing to traditional tibetan music in the schoolyard. in the evening we met in tashi’s restaurant to celebrate laura’s birthday. our guides organized the birthday cake and khatags, the traditional tibetan scarf. it was a nice… Continue reading group activities
tashilhunpo monastery
after two days of sitting mostly in the bus we made our first stop to visit the monastery in shigatse. in some areas taking photographs is strictly prohibited as it was in the maitreya temple in which a 26 meter golden buddha sits on his lotus throne. in other rooms pictures are allowed if you… Continue reading tashilhunpo monastery